Again
by NaijaStrawberrie
Summary: After 7 years Pietro is back to try and re-win Lexa's heart.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot.

Again

"Lexa, he's back."

Lexa was glad she was sitting down as Wanda told her the news.

"What?" she asked Wanda. "How? Why? When?"

"He called me right now," Wanda said as she looked intensely at Lexa. Lexa stared at one of her many first place certificates hanging on the wall.

"So, he's back," Lexa said, carefully keeping her voice at a monotone level. "Did he…ask about me?"

"No," Wanda replied.

Lexa's gaze snapped to Wanda's.

"Then why are you telling me this?"

"Just so that you're prepared when you see him on the street or something," Wanda said, not fazed by Lexa's sudden anger.

Lexa sighed and stared down at her shaking hands wondering why he had come back. Why he was possessed to come and try and hurt her again. If he even was going to come to her.

She had tried to repress the memories so many times since he had left her. Seven years of trying to push away old feelings.

xox flashback oxo

_Lexa trudged up the stairs to her apartment. The elevator had been working, but a group of boisterous teenagers had entered the machine before her and she didn't feel like staying in a cramped space with them._

_Finally getting to the third floor she held onto the doorframe to keep her up. Her legs felt as if they were about to collapse under her and all she could think about was falling on her bed and not moving until the next morning._

_Her stomach growled as she started towards her apartment door but she knew she was too sore and exhausted to cook for herself or wait for delivery to be brought to her._

_She took her keys out of her green Deux Lux Hobo bag that she got online and opened her apartment door._

"_Hey beautiful," said a voice._

_Lexa looked through her wild, sweat soaked bangs at her boyfriend who was standing in the candle lit kitchen._

I need to trim them_… she thought, thinking that the vision before her was an illusion that her exhaustion and the effort it took to see through her bangs created._

"_Pietro?"_

_Pietro came up to her, took her purse and dance bag and dropped it onto the couch in the living room._

"_Time to take a bath, the water is ready. When you come out you can have dinner and go to bed," Pietro said._

_He picked her up and carried her to the bathroom where he had lit vanilla scented candles around the tub and put bath flowers into the water along with bath oils. He dropped her in the bathroom and closed the door behind him._

"_I'll be right out here. If I don't hear movement I'll assume you've fallen asleep and I'll wake you."_

_Smiling, Lexa opened the door and reached out to her boyfriend. Grabbing a portion of his shirt she pulled him close to her and kissed him thoroughly._

"_You're the best."_

xox end flashback oxo

Just when she had thought she was done with re-living the past and thinking about him, he comes back to town.

Lexa looked up and saw that Wanda had left. Sighing she looked at the time and saw that she had a hip-hop dance class to teach in fifteen minutes.

She got up, trying to push away the old memories and feelings that Wanda had stirred. On her way out of her office she slammed the door shut in anger. She thought to herself that it didn't matter what Pietro said if he saw her, she wouldn't fall for his lies, and fall in love with him again. She'd be strong…somehow. She didn't know how she could, but she'd be strong.

She ran to the coffee maker in the employee break room to get a cup before the next class started. Drowning the drink in record time she glided to studio 3 to start stretching.

xoxoxox

The group was learning the newest routine when Kitty burst into the room.

"Five minute break people, I, like, _need_ to talk to Miss H," she said as she grabbed Lexa and pulled her to the corner.

"Just practice what I taught you!" Lexa called to the surprised pupils.

"What?" Lexa exclaimed once she and Kitty were out of earshot. "You can't just come and interrupt my class like this! It's unprofessional for me. This has to be an emergency."

"Like, guess who I, like, saw just fifteen minutes ago?" Kitty demanded, breathing heavily. Her shock and exhaustion from running to Lexa's studio caused her valley girl accent to come back.

"Pietro." Lexa replied, crossing her arms and glaring at Kitty.

Kitty's mouth dropped in shock as she stared at Lexa. "How did you, like, know?"

Lexa sighed and looked at the class who was practicing the latest 8 count that she had taught them.

"Wanda came earlier and told me he was back."

"HOW ARE YOU SO, LIKE, CALM ABOUT THIS?" Kitty exclaimed. The class looked at her startled and Lexa flapped her hand to tell them to continue.

"I'm not calm Kitty," Lexa said. "I'm inadvertently re-living everything that happened between when he met me and when he left me for good. If I were alone I might beat the shit out of something, but I'm not. I have a class and I can't act as if something is wrong."

Kitty looked at her in shock. "Wow," she said. "You're stronger than I am. I would have cancelled everything I had today."

"So that I could sit at home and wallow in the fact that he left me and is probably back to flaunt his new, wondrous life in my face?" Lexa asked as she turned away to walk back to her students. "I don't think so. I'm keeping busy so I don't think about it. The less I think about it the less I destroy things."

She turned her head to look at Kitty again.

"I'll talk to you later Kit, say hi to Piotr for me," Lexa said. She walked back to the front of the class without checking to see if Kitty left.

"Okay, ready for the next eight count?" she asked. The class nodded.

"Alright, it goes, one and two, three, four, five and six, seven and eight AND…"

xoxoxox

Lexa glanced at her watch. 12:23.

_Lunch time_. She thought as she picked up her purse and walked out of the studio building.

Walking down Xavier Street she focused on getting to her destination, rather than the people around her.

She passed coffee shops, department stores, many parked cars and random street vendors selling hot dogs and T-shirts until she got to the Chinese food place she usually got lunch from.

As she walked in she was surprised to see no one else there, but didn't show it as she strode up to the cashier.

"I'd like a large orange chicken to go with a Sprite," she said, handing over a ten-dollar bill.

"Lexa?" called a voice.

Lexa froze and turned slowly to see the tall young man with blonde hair and very blue eyes staring at her.

"Warren?" she asked.

Warren Worthington III smiled. "Hey!" He came up and hugged Lexa. "How's it been?"

"Pretty good," Lexa replied. "What are you doing here? Last I heard you were in Cali."

"The agency decided to move me and a bunch of people back down here, so here I am," Warren replied, spreading his arms to emphasize his point.

"So that's why Pietro came back," Lexa thought out loud.

Warren glanced away from her. "Yeah," he said, looking guilty. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened, and that I was the one to show you and everything. I just thought you needed to know, and as your friend I should tell you."

Lexa glanced up at him startled. "No, no, no!" she protested. "It's fine. I'm glad you took those pictures. Even with them I wanted to not believe." She looked at the red dragon picture on the wall of the Chinese Restaurant.

Warren scratched the back of his head while his light blue polo stretched to accommodate his movement.

"Uh, I don't know if I should tell you this, but it kind of seems like he's been the one suffering for awhile now--"

Lexa's head snapped quickly towards him.

"And?" she asked angrily.

Warren shifted his weight from his right leg to his left. "Maybe he's feeling some remorse--"

"Maybe his latest hoe dumped him or he's having problems becoming erect," she said, glaring at him. "There are a _million_ reasons why he could be feeling low, none of them having anything to do with _me_!"

"Large orange chicken?" the cashier asked. Lexa grabbed her food and began to walk out of the door.

"Then why does he stare at the picture he still has of you in his wallet like a love sick puppy?" Warren asked her as she got to the door.

"Because he knows he lost the best thing that ever happened to him, and that she won't take him back," Lexa said as she stormed out.

xox flashback oxo

_Lexa opened her mailbox and sorted through the mail._

"_Bills, bills, junk, bills…" Her hands stopped when she saw a hand written envelope addressed to her from California. She grinned and ran up the stairs to her apartment where she threw the rest of the mail onto the island in the middle of her kitchen and opened the California mail._

_She smiled as she pulled out a stack of photographs. Each one was of Pietro with different women beside him, on top of him, holding him, with their hands on his bare chest or with their tongues in his mouth. With every picture her face fell just a tiny bit more until she was almost to the point of tears. A note was written on a sticky note on the back of the last picture._

Just thought you should see. –Warren

"_Pietro…" Lexa whispered. _

It's not true_ she thought._ It can't be true. These must be photo shoot shots._ But why didn't he tell her about it? Why does she have to find out from someone else? Pietro was modeling for him and Lexa, so that they would have enough money to live together. Why would he just forget about her…she had to call him._

_Just as her hand touched the phone it rang._

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey, uh, Lexa," said a voice._

"_Pietro!" Lexa said smiling. "You won't believe what I just got in the mail."_

"_Lexa I'm ending our relationship," he said. "Right now."_

"_What?" Lexa asked as she collapsed into one of stools. "Why?"_

"_I'm just…" he started. "I'm done with you."_

"_Come on, Pietro, stop playing. Those photographs were a nice joke, I mean you even got Warren into it, very clever."_

"_Photos? What the hell…? Man, Lexa. It's over. I've moved on already…"_

"_So you're going to throw away three years for some slut?" Lexa shrieked standing up._

"Come on, Lexa," Pietro said. "You knew it wasn't going to last forever. This is me…"

xox end flashback oxo

After leaving her studio, Lexa drove home in her 2008 Acura RL. After greeting the doorman, Harry, she took the elevator to the penthouse where she deposited her white MAXX New York Bridle tote bag on the side table beside her keys.

Picking up the remote to her sound system she turned it on and immediately "Finally" by Brandy came blaring through the speakers.

As she mouthed the lyrics to the song she walked to the kitchen and began taking out ingredients to make veggie lasagna.

While the pasta was boiling she heard the doorbell ring.

_What will it take for Rogue, Wanda and Kitty to see that I'm fine?_ She thought as she wiped her hands and walked to open the door.

The doorbell rang again.

"I'm coming!" Lexa screamed. Without looking through the keyhole Lexa opened the door.

"Damn, I'm fine you don't have to…" Lexa stopped short when, instead of seeing black or brown locks, she was faced with silver streaks of hair. The brown or gray-blue eyes she was expecting wasn't anything like the clear blue windows to the soul she was looking at now. Tight bright colored tops and professional pants were replaced by a dark blue polo and black slacks.

Instead of seeing Kitty, Wanda or Rogue, Pietro was standing at her door.

Lexa blinked and immediately tried to slam the door shut but Pietro was too quick. He stuck his foot out just in time to stop the door from closing.

"Go away you asshole!" Lexa screamed as she tried to push the door closed and push his foot out of the way at the same time.

"Lex, just please let me in," Pietro begged as he tried to push his way into the penthouse.

"Go away!" Lexa said. "Come again _never_."

"Lex, LEXA!" Pietro screamed as he gave the door a huge shove. Lexa, not expecting the sudden force, fell backwards and scrambled up just in time to see Pietro quietly closing the door behind him.

"I'm calling the police," Lexa said as she reached for the phone. Just as she grabbed her black cordless phone Pietro reached her. He plucked the phone from her hands and sent it soaring across the room. As soon as it fell to the ground his lips fell onto Lexa's as he tried to convey seven years worth of an apology into one kiss.

Struggling to push him away and continue the kiss at the same time, Lexa stood there, stuck in between the couch and Pietro's hard body, while thoughts raced through her mind. She wanted to continue the kiss. This was what she had wanted, waited for, for seven years and she wanted it to go on and on until they ended up farther than anything she saw in the pictures. Like they used to…

xox flashback oxo

_From their position on the couch Pietro kissed her. As she responded with passion that he had never seen her display before he pulled her to a straddle position on his lap._

_Pietro broke away from the kiss and his lips latched eagerly on her jawline as he traced it up to her ear._

"_God, Lexa," he whispered, breathing quickly._

_Lexa, breathing just as hard quickly began to discard her clothes._

"_Wait," Pietro said, putting his hands over hers to still them. "Are you--?"_

"_I'm ready and I'm sure," Lexa responded, smiling down at him._

_Pietro stared at her for a couple of seconds before a smile slowly came onto his face. _

"_Let's go then!" he said._

_He quickly kissed her lips and picked her up bridal style. Lexa screamed in delight as he carried her into the bedroom and deposited her on the bed._

_xoxoxo_

"_So ya finally had sex," Rogue said. Lexa and she were sitting on Rogue's couch as the two of them enjoyed their first simultaneous day off in years. "How did it feel?"_

"_Amazing," Lexa said, not bothering to ask how Rogue knew. Lexa knew that Rogue was the only one out of their group of friends that always seemed to know or correctly sense what was going on with the other members._

"_Kinda like we were destined to be together, like we were made for each other," Lexa said as she stared glassy eyed into the distance. She looked at Rogue._

"_Did you feel that way?"_

_Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Tha first tahme ah had sex with Remy, yeah," she replied. She picked up her hot chocolate and had a drink. "Before that? Nah, nothing like it."_

"_I guess the feeling only comes with a particular guy huh?"_

"_Ah guess so."_

xox end flashback oxo

At the same time she wanted to push him away knowing that he was in town and looking for a quick screw. She knew that to him she was available and would come right back to him. Would she?

Making up her mind she pushed him away from her.

"Get out," Lexa said, her brown eyes unyielding in their anger towards him.

"Lexa, I'm sorry," Pietro started.

"You're seven years too late," Lexa said. She walked to the door and opened it. "Just leave."

"Lexa I made a mistake—"

"And what? I'm supposed to give you a second chance?" Balling up her hands into fists, Lexa let go of the door and glared at Pietro.

"All I'm asking—"

"JUST LEAVE!"

Pietro bit his lip. "Lex—"

"I trusted you!" Lexa screamed, stepping closer to him. "_Everyone_ told me that you would cheat—"

"Like _who_?" Pietro's eyes narrowed while Lexa continued as if he hadn't interrupted her.

"--that you would leave me. EVERYONE!"

"Who told you that?"

"Does it matter? Because they were _right!_" Lexa punched him in the chest with all her might. When he didn't even flinch, her frustration level increased dramatically and she broke into tears.

"Lexa," Pietro whispered and moved to take her into his arms.

"Get away!" Lexa screamed as she stepped back. She glared at him.

"I believed in you, and in us!" She wiped a tear from her eye, smearing her mascara across her cheek. "And I _knew_ that you wouldn't stray from me, but NO, you _had_ to prove me WRONG!"

"I didn't know what I had—"

"And I suppose you do now?" Lexa said. She sighed, shaking her head. "Just get out."

"Lexa please, let me explain—"

"No, Pietro," she said. She walked to the open door. "I'm not giving you a chance to wreck my life. It's near perfect."

Pietro stared at her, his blue eyes pleading. "Give me a chance to take it there."

"How? By romancing me again?" Lexa rolled her eyes. "We both know how long _that_ perfection lasted."

Pietro looked at her, his eyes distant before he started to sing.

"If I'm not made for you then why does my heart tell me that I am?"

Lexa raised her eyebrows. "You're ridiculous. What is that supposed to do? Make me swoon?"

Pietro continued singing. He had heard this song a couple of days ago and he had immediately thought of Lexa as he listened to the lyrics.

"Cuz I miss you, body and soul so strong that it takes my breath away." He started to walk closer and closer to Lexa, dancing a bit as he came closer.

"And I breathe you, into my heart and pray for the strength to stand today."

Lexa looked at him while, unbeknownst to her, her mouth began to turn up, erasing the hard lines of a frown already there. Pietro put his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes as he slowly sang the next part.

"Cuz I love you. Whether it's wrong or right. And though I can't be with you tonight, know my heart is by your side."

"Get out," Lexa whispered. She said it softly, unsure of whether she wanted him to go or to stay.

In response Pietro lowered his head to kiss Lexa softly on the lips. He moved his mouth so that it was at the base of her throat and Lexa closed her eyes as her body clenched and throbbed.

"I'm leaving," Pietro whispered against her throat. "But I'll be back tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that."

Lexa looked at the clock behind him, trying to focus her thoughts. "When will you stop coming?"

"Never," Pietro said, lifting his head and looking her in the eye.

Lexa hung her head. She wanted to believe him and think that he was sincere but the pain she went through just kept coming back to her.

Pietro pulled her into his arms and this time she didn't push him away, wanting him to hold her. She loved the feeling of being wrapped in his arms. She stood there as tears fell silently down her face and his warm body enveloped hers.

Pietro moved away to wipe her tears.

_Don't let go,_ she thought, but was too hurt to say out loud.

"I…I think you should go," Lexa said instead.

Pietro smiled sadly. "I love you," he said again.

Lexa looked away at the wall. _I love you too._

"Goodnight Pietro," she said.

Pietro walked to the open doorway and stopped. He reached back to caress Lexa's cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Goodnight beautiful,"

* * *

Authors Note: Wow, I haven't been on fanfic in awhile. No, I am not writing again. I wrote this a couple years ago and I forgot to upload it. I figured I might as well now. This story is a songfic in a sense. It's loosely based around the lyrics to Again by Janet Jackson. You might want to look them up and compare them to the story. I know Pietro singing at the end is a bit corny and a bit out of character but whatever. He's matured I guess? and some girls love to be serenaded.

Chances are this is my last upload to fanfic. Things have gotten crazy with college and I rarely have time to write my original pieces, let alone my fanfic. Maybe this summer I'll write some more to Dreams of Desire, if not, Goodbye Fanfiction.

p.s. Reviews are very welcome :)


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